computer to computer without internet..

I am not very computer savvy and am considering a alternative way to connect to friends and others outside of internet usage using servers.

Can one of you explain to me the process of connecting a computer to another computer just using a phone line ..phone line to phone line. No internet servers in between.

As I understand it ..this is how a lot of computer communications was done in the early days before a lot of servers became so common.

I've been thinking that this would be an interesting alternative way to go.

I am also considering learning how to hook up a computer to two way radio to and then two way radio and back to a computer. As near as I can tell this requires a set up called a terminal node controller. I don't have one but Ive been reading about it.

First I want to begin with simple phone line to phone line as an alternative to going through the internet servers.

Any of you have any informations on this set up which might be of help to me.

I thank you in advance.

Orangetom

I have done that some years ago, linking two computers with Windows 95.

You will need (obviously) two modems, and one or both computers can be configured to accept calls from the other.

From the computer that makes the call it looks like it is connecting to some ISP, because the work is the same, the biggest difference is that you can share files directly over that connection without worrying with other people accessing the files.

But the speed will be much slower than what you get with cable or ADSL.

As I do not remember exactly how it is done, if you want more information just ask, I am sure I will remember things as I go.

Rather than using a phone line/old school modem setup, it would be far easier (and quicker) just to network via lan. Any PC made in the last 10 years should have lan as standard, if not a 10/100 NIC cost practically nothing and provided you've got a free pci slot going you're good to go. Just grab a crossover ethernet cable and connect the computers together. Setting up the network is very simple via the built in networking tools provided with most OS's and there is more than enough how-to's available with a quick google search if you get stuck. If you want to connect a number of PC'c together then you'll need to look into getting a network hub to do the routing and switching.

reply to post by orangetom1999

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If you are going to link two computers, over a network I would presume, you will need either a router, switch or hub and 2 network cables to connect them to the router, switch or hub.

Go into network connections and create our network. Also, create a shared folder on the network so that you can share files between the two computers.

If both computers have an Ethernet adapter then you can use a crossover cable. You can go to your local computer store and pick one up.

Once you have the cable... Here is how you do it in XP.
Cross over cable networking

For simple file transfers you can use special USB networking or bluetooth as well.

I think you left out one important point.
How far away from each other will these PCs be physically located?